Delivering video or audio files over the Internet presents unique challenges not faced by traditional broadcast television. One of the main challenges is overcoming network latency. Network latency refers to the time delay in delivering data over a network to a user or client device. The amount of data to be delivered will vary according to the scope and size of the content.
To deliver content obtained from an Internet resource, a browser on a client device must first connect to a server. After the browser has connected to the server, the server may send the content to the browser via a network connection. With broadcast television, a television simply plays the content that is being simultaneously transmitted by a system operator (e.g., cable operator) to many users. Further, video or other content delivered over the Internet is transmitted individually to a browser. In other words, a one-to-one connection between a server and browser is required, unlike in a one-to-many architecture used in broadcast television.
Many attempts have been made to improve content delivery over the Internet. For example, with respect to video content, many efforts have focused on improving existing standards for video delivery. For example, one proposed method is to stream video using content delivery network (CDN) technology that provides low latency and higher bandwidth to consumers by caching content on servers that are in close network proximity to end users. While this and other improvements have enhanced video delivery, the fundamental problems discussed above persist.